Why railway safety is off track

Railway Board flagged grave safety issues in review meetings in April and May

- DHRUVAKSH SAHA

RED FLAGS

• In a review meeting in April, the Railway Board chairman had flagged the 37% rise in consequential accidents as a 'matter of grave concern'
• Board sought focus on issues of track, signalling and operations, and 'systemic deficiencies'. Signalling interference is one of the possibilities being probed in the Odisha accident
• SECR and East Coast Railway crew found working beyond 12-hour shifts; no improvement in these metrics was found despite a serious case of rear-end collision on April 19

The three-train collision in Odisha that left 275 dead and 803 injured is being seen as one of the worst accidents in independent India's rail history, and has brought focus back on the lack of safety at the national transporter. Despite record budgetary allocations for infrastructure upgrade and safety, consequential rail accidents increased by 37 per cent in 2022-23. Many of these accidents involved goods trains, with most not reporting casualties.

According to senior officials, a train accident is considered consequential in one or more of the three scenarios- total communications failure for over three hours after the accident (partial failure for six hours), value of damages over ₹2 crore, and loss of life.

The data was shown in an official safety review meeting conducted by the Ministry of Railways in April, the record of which was released to all railway zones on May 8. In the meeting, CEO and Chairman of Railway Board Anil Lahoti had flagged the rise in consequential accidents as a "matter of grave concern", according to the minutes.